


The Hurdles We Face

by orphan_account



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Gym class, High School, I love this ship, M/M, Modern AU, big dumb idiots, fake athsma, tw: anxiety attack, tw: hypochondria, tw: panic attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-22
Updated: 2013-09-22
Packaged: 2017-12-27 09:11:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/977019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bossuet couldn't understand the look of excitement on his classmates faces. Hurdles? These kids were excited for hurdles? The gym teacher had an air of maliciousness about him, Bossuet thought, though maybe that was just because Bossuet hated hurdles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hurdles We Face

       Bossuet couldn't understand the look of excitement on his classmates faces. Hurdles? These kids were excited for hurdles? The gym teacher had an air of maliciousness about him, Bossuet thought, though maybe that was just because Bossuet hated hurdles. 'Really though, for a kid as clumsy as me, hurdles are hell.'. As he looked around though, he noticed a face that wasn't excited. It was a junior, (ever since the budget cuts, gym classes were all grades. The teachers worked less hours, meaning less pay for them.) the boy was visibly distressed, and when Mr. Homes (The gym teacher) called that everyone had to do four laps of the track for warm up, Bossuet slowed his jog to wait up for the worried boy.

       "Hey, are you okay?" He asked, when the boy was close enough to hear him. The boy, on closer inspection, was kind of adorable, in an impish sort of way. His eyes turned to Bossuet, wide and green as the grass they were running next to. He looked shocked, and a little afraid. Bossuet hoped he wasn't afraid of him. "What's your name?"

       "J-Joly." His voice sounded breathy and forced.

       "Are you alright?"

       "A-asthma." He coughed, before screeching to a halt and breaking into a violent coughing fit. Bossuet stopped too, raising his hands in an attempt to be reassuring, but ended up looking more like he was praying to the asthmatic brunette.

       "Alright, just sit down, come on, right here, sit down." He sat down on the ground hard and motioned for the other to do the same. The kid shook his head violently, still coughing.

       "Hey, come on, why not? It's warm, the waters fine." Bossuet joked, a little nervously. "It'll help!"

       "Ger-germ-s!" He somehow managed to choke out. Bossuet understood immediately, somehow he knew. 'It's a panic attack, not an asthma attack.'

       "Joly. Please, Sit." Bossuet grabbed Joly's hand and gently tugged him to the ground. The coughing was subsiding, leaving behind some serious wheezing. Something in the back of Bossuet's mind wondered where the gym teacher was to help with this, but he ignored it and focused on the panicked boy. "Alright, your name's Joly. What's wrong. What are you worried about."

       "Hurdles." Joly's voice was barely audible, but at least his breathing was normal.

       "I hate hurdles too. They're terrible, but they're manageable, I mean, I fall on my face at least once a day, it's no big dea-"

       "No you don't understand." There was his voice. "If I fall, I'll probably break my skin. Do you realize how easy it is to get an infection from an open wound? Especially if you don't sterilize it right away, plus, even if you do get it clean, there's the chance that the wound won't heal correctly and you'll be stuck with a scar- oh god I forgot, what if my blood doesn't coagulate correctly? Oh my god my family has history with high blood pressure, does that affect blood loss levels? Is high blood pressure when you bleed more? I might become anaemic! It's quite easy, oh god my iron levels are low I can feel it. I think my white blood cell count is low too oh my god I'm going to die. I can't- No! I'm can't I cannot do - Hurdles!" Joly started to visibly panic, breath moving his small chest up and down at such a pace Bossuet was sure he would crack a rib. This was definitely a panic attack. Joly ran his hands through his light brown hair, making it stand up in such a way it would be comical if Bossuet wasn't so worried for Joly's heart. "There's no escaping this oh my god I'm going to die. I'm going-" He let out a cry that was so heart wrenchingly full of genuine terror Bossuet almost burst into tears. Joly did. He continued muttering about death and infection and the like until Bossuet pulled the smaller boy into his lap and cradled him.

       "Shh... shh... It's alright, you're okay, you're safe. I won't let you die. I promise." Bossuet felt Joly's tears seep through the collar of his gym shirt from where Joly's face was buried in his neck. "I promise." Joly looked up at him, green eyes huge and fear-stricken.

       The majority of the gym class was approaching for their second round around the track. Bossuet ignored the catcalls and wolf whistles from the idiots at the front -and also ignored the blood that rushed to his face-, only pulling Joly in tighter. Joly stiffened at the unwanted attention and tried to pull away, but Bossuet rubbed his back soothingly.

       "Ignore them."

       The girls though, were harder to ignore, most of them aww'ed quietly or to their friends, one even stopped to make sure Joly was alright. But Bossuet waved her off, the last thing Joly wanted, he knew, was to be spotlighted.

       Eventually though, everybody passed by.

       "You okay?" Bossuet asked, releasing Joly enough to see his face. The pale pink of his cheeks had returned and his eyes seemed more vibrant a green. Joly nodded.

       "Thank you." He murmured, softly smiling up at Bossuet. "No one's ever done that before."

       "My pleasure." Bossuet responded sincerely. "Now you wanna get up and do the rest of this track?" Joly nodded again.

       Gym class passed by in a breeze. Everyone got full credits for the day. And when the time came for Joly to do hurdles, he was so deep in thought about Bossuet that he didn't even think about being worried, and he made it over every single one.


End file.
